In this day and age of NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) encompassing college sports, the top college basketball players are finding themselves with increasingly elevated valuations.
Stars like the BYU Cougars’ AJ Dybantsa and the Duke Blue Devils’ Cameron Boozer are unsurprisingly getting a lot of attention in the NIL landscape. However, they also have plenty of company from a number of big-name universities near the top of the heap.
Where do Dybantsa, Boozer, and others rank among the NIL leaders in the 2025-26 college basketball season?
College Basketball NIL Leaders Highlight Top Players
In a list of the top 10 college basketball players according to their NIL valuations from On3, Dybantsa, a freshman small forward, tops the list with a $4.2 million NIL valuation. On the season, Dybantsa is averaging 25.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
Texas Tech junior power forward JT Toppin finds himself in the No. 2 spot with a $2.8 million NIL valuation. Toppin is averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game this season.
Boozer, a freshman power forward, sits in third with a $2.2 million NIL valuation. On the season, Boozer is averaging 22.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.
Michigan sophomore power forward Morez Johnson Jr. comes in fourth at $2 million, while Kentucky sophomore power forward Jayden Quaintance is fifth, also with a $2 million NIL valuation.
Johnson is averaging 13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. Quaintance, in four games of action this season, is averaging 5.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Michigan senior power forward Yaxel Lendeborg, Johnson’s teammate, is in sixth, also with a $2 million NIL valuation. Lendeborg is averaging 14.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game this season.
North Carolina freshman power forward Caleb Wilson is seventh with a $1.9 million NIL valuation, followed by Purdue senior point guard Braden Smith ($1.7 million NIL valuation), Kentucky senior guard Denzel Aberdeen ($1.6 million), and Illinois freshman shooting guard Keaton Wagler ($1.5 million).
Wilson is averaging 19.8 points per game this season, along with 9.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per contest. Smith is averaging 14.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 8.7 assists per game this season. Meanwhile, Aberdeen is averaging 12.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game this season.
As for Wagler, he’s averaging 18.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game this season.
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Just out of the top 10 NIL valuations were Kansas freshman guard Darryn Peterson and Houston freshman guard Kingston Flemings. These NIL valuations will fluctuate throughout the 2025-26 college basketball season, so there’s certainly plenty of opportunity for the names at the top to shift in either direction.
